'Attack the Block' review: Monsters rarely look this cool

'Attack the Block'

"Maybe teenagers aren't invincible after all."

"Maybe teenagers aren't invincible after all."

Matt PaisRedEye movie critic

*** (out of four)

A teenage quintet of South London thugs is successfully mugging a nurse (Jodie Whittaker of “One Day”) when, oops, an alien lands on a car and the kids quickly chase and beat the creature to death. That might seem like an accomplishment if it didn’t incur the wrath of even more extraterrestrial beasts, who now look like super-fast-moving mutant gorillas who are too dark to even see, save for their glow-in-the-dark teeth.

The buzz: This British horror-comedy was produced by “Shaun of the Dead” director Edgar Wright and, like “Shaun,” presents people with unexpected reactions to an invasion who sometimes act like monsters themselves. “Attack the Block” already is on the way to being a cult fave: It was a big hit at this year’s SXSW festival and has been building buzz since March.

The verdict: “Attack the Block” nails both the attack and the block: This is a vivid portrait of a rough neighborhood infiltrated by awesomely menacing critters. It’s great to see a horror movie with both an edge and a good sense of humor; few movies since “Brick” have made such excellent use of teen slang. (In “Attack the Block,” of course, it’s not new terminology—just 15-year-old Brit punks with mile-a-minute minds and mouths.) Despite leaning on coincidences and fumbling with social commentary about the police, writer-director Joe Cornish’s niftiest trick might be daring to make the robbers-turned-heroes (led by breakout star John Boyega) significantly unlikable. Ultimately they’re just kids from a bad spot doing bad things, not truly evil people. Minor characters strive to be known as Props and Mayhem, and “Attack the Block” deserves the former for the wicked way it creates the latter.

Did you know? When he sees the thing that’s been killed, a drug dealer (Nick Frost of “Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz”) explains its appearance by wondering if there was a party at the zoo and a monkey had sex with a fish. Drug-influenced analysis or intelligent speculation?

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